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Jack Prelutsky
| birth_place = Brooklyn, New York | death_date = | death_place = | resting_place = | occupation = Poet | language = English | nationality = American | ethnicity = | citizenship = | education = The High School of Music & Art | alma_mater = | period = | genre = | subject = | movement = | notableworks = | spouse = Carolynn | partner = | children = | relatives = | influences = Woody Allen, Groucho Marx, Jimmy Durante, Dr. Seuss, Ogden Nash | influenced = | awards = U.S. Children's Poet Laureate (2006) (Poetry Foundation), Scandiuzzi Children's Book Award (2007) (Washington State Book Award) | signature = | signature_alt = | website = jackprelutsky.com | portaldisp = }} Jack Prelutsky (born September 8, 1940) is an American writer of children's poetry. Life Youth Prelutsky was born on September 8, 1940 in Brooklyn, New York City, to Charles (an electrician) and Dorothea Prelutsky. When he was still a baby, a fire burned his family's apartment and he was saved by his Uncle Charlie, who was a stand up comic who played the Borscht Belt. Jack was poor growing up, and he said he was "...a sensitive kid in a working class neighborhood. I got beat up a lot. I was a skinny kid with a big mouth. A bad combination." He attended local public schools in the Bronx, hated it, and was bored in class. Prelutsky claims to have hated poetry when he was younger.Academy of American Poets He stated that "sometime in elementary school I had a teacher who, in retrospect, did not like poetry herself. She was determined to inflict her views on her captives. The syllabus told her she had to recite a poem once a week. She would pick a boring poem from a boring book and read it in a boring voice, looking bored while she was doing it."Biography Today, p.127 After teachers discovered he had musical talents, they suggested he attend The High School of Music & Art. While there, he was happy and was able to train his beautiful singing voice and even took part in the musicals. He graduated in 1958, and went on to Hunter College for two years. He studied philosophy, psychology, and flunked English three times before dropping out.Biography Today, p.127 Before becoming a writer, he worked odd jobs including driving a cab, moving furniture, busboy, potter, woodworker, and door-to-door salesman. In the late 1960's, he was working in a bookstore in Greenwich Village and singing in coffeehouses, and while doing the latter he met Bob Dylan, became friends, and Dylan even stated that Prelutsky sounded "like a cross between Woody Guthrie and Enrico Caruso".Biography Today, p.128 Prelutsky also loved to draw imaginary animals, and a friend of his encouraged him to send some of his drawings to a publisher in New York. He wrote poems to go with the drawings last minute. He met with Susan Hirshman, and was amazed when they wanted his work; not the drawings that took 6 months to draw, but the poems which took 2 hours. He was 24 at the time, and the poems appeared in his debut collection, A Gopher in the Garden, and other animal poems. Hirshman told him he was a natural poet, published his book, and remained his editor until she retired 37 years later.Biography Today, p.128 Private life Prelutsky married his wife Carolynn in 1979. They met when he was on a book tour in Albuquerque, New Mexico and she was a children's librarian who was tasked with showing him around town. He claims it was love at first sight and even asked for her hand in marriage the first day he met her. They have lived in Arizona, Boston, New York, and Olympia, Washington. They currently live in downtown Seattle and have an apartment on Bainbridge Island.Biography Today, p.134 Career Prelutsky has written more than 50 poetry collections, including Nightmares: Poems to Trouble Your Sleep (1976), It's Halloween (1977), The Mean Old Mean Hyena (1978), and Something BIG Has Been Here (1990). Nilsen, A. P. and Nilsen, D.L.F. (2000). Encyclopedia of 20th-Century American Humor version. Phoenix, AZ: Oryx Press. He has also compiled numerous children's anthologies comprising poems of others. He appeared on the popular animated television series Arthur, in the episode "I'm a Poet." He has also set his poems to music on the audio versions of his anthologies. He often sings and plays guitar on most of them. In 1993, "The New Kid on the Block" was made into an interactive story book by Brøderbund's Living Books series. Recognition In 2006, the Poetry Foundation named Prelutsky the inaugural winner of the Children’s Poet Laureate award. His book Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant and Other Poems (illustrated by Carin Berger) won the 2007 Scandiuzzi Children's Book Award of the Washington State Book Awards in the Picture Book category. Publications Poetry *''There'll be a Slight Delay, and other poems for grownups''. New York: Morrow, 1991. Juvenile *''A Gopher in the Garden, and other animal poems'' (illustrated by Robert Leydenfrost). New York: Macmillan, 1967. *''The Terrible Tiger'' (illustrated by Arnold Lobel). New York: Macmillan, 1970 1969 *''Toucans Two, and other poems'' (illustrated by José Aruego). New York: Macmillan, 1970. *''Circus'' (illustrated by Arnold Lobel). New York: Macmillan, 1974. *''Nightmares: Poems to trouble your sleep'' (illustrated by Arnold Lobel). New York: Greenwillow Books, 1976. *''It's Halloween'' (illustrated by Marylin Hafner). New York: Greenwillow Books, 1977. *''The Snopp on the Sidewalk, and other poems'' (illustrated by Byron Barton). New York: Greenwillow Books, 1977. *''The Mean Old Mean Hyena'' (illustrated by Arnold Lobel). New York: Greenwillow Books, 1978. *''The Queen of Eene'' (illustrated by Victoria Chess). New York: Greenwillow Books, 1978. *''Rainy Rainy Sunday'' (illustrated by Marylin Hafner). New York: Greenwillow Books, 1980. *''The Headless Horseman Rides Tonight: More poems to trouble your sleep'' (illustrated by Arnold Lobel). New York: Greenwillow Books, 1980. *''Rolling Harvey Down the Hill'' (illustrated by Victoria Chess). New York: Greenwillow Books, 1980. *''It's Christmas'' (illustrated by Marylin Hafner). New York: Greenwillow Books, 1981. *''The Sheriff of Rottenshot: Poems'' (illustrated by Victoria Chess). New York: Greenwillow Books, 1982. *''Kermit's Garden of Verses'' (illustrated by Bruce McNally). New York: Muppet Press / Random House, 1982. *''The Baby Uggs are Hatching'' (illustrated by James Stevenson). New York: Greenwillow Books, 1982. *''It's Thanksgiving'' (illustrated by Marylin Hafner). New York: Greenwillow Books, 1982. *''Zoo Doings: Animal poems'' (illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky). New York: Greenwillow Books, 1983. *''It's Valentine's Day'' (illustrated by Yossi Abolafia). New York: Greenwillow Books, 1983. *''What I Did Last Summer'' (illustrated by Yossi Abolafia). New York: Greenwillow Books, 1984. *''It's Snowing! It's Snowing!'' (illustrated by Jeanne Titherington). New York: Greenwillow Books, 1984 **also published as It's Snowing! It's Snowing! Winter poems (illustrated by Yossi Abolafia). New York: HarperCollins, 2006. *''The New Kid on the Block: Poems'' (illustrated by James Stevenson). New York: Greenwillow Books, 1984. *''Ride a Purple Pelican'' (illustrated by Garth Williams). New York: Greenwillow Books, 1986. *''My Parents Think I'm Sleeping'' (illustrated by Yossi Abolafia). New York: Greenwillow Books, 1985. *''Read Aloud-Rhymes for the Very Young'' (illustrated by Marc Tolon Brown). New York: Knopf, 1986. *''Tyrannosaurus Was a Beast: Dinosaur poems'' (illustrated by Arnold Lobel). New York: Greenwillow Books, 1988. *''Poems of A. Nonny Mouse'' (illustrated by Henrik Drescher). New York: Knopf, 1989. *''Beneath a Blue Umbrella'' (illustrated by Garth Williams). New York: Greenwillow Books, 1990. *''Something BIG Has Been Here'' (illustrated by James Stevenson). New York: Greenwillow Books, 1990. *''For Laughing Out Loud: Poems to tickle your funnybone'' (illustrated by Marjorie Priceman). New York: Knopf, 1991. *''There'll Be a Slight Delay: And Other Poems for Grown-ups'' (1991) (illustrated by Jack Ziegler) *''A. Nonny Mouse Writes Again! Poems'' (1993) (illustrated by Marjorie Priceman). New York: Knopf, 1993. *''The Dragons Are Singing Tonight'' (illustrated by Peter Sís). New York: Greenwillow Books, 1993. *''Monday's Troll'' (illustrated by Peter Sís). New York: Greenwillow Books, 1996. *''A Pizza the Size of the Sun: Poems'' (illustrated by James Stevenson). New York: Greenwillow Books, 1996. *''The Beauty of the Beast: Poems from the animal kingdom'' (illustrated by Meilo So). New York: Knopf, 1997. *''Hooray for Diffendoofer Day!'' (1998) (with Dr. Seuss; illustrated by Lane Smith). New York: Knopf, 1998. *''Imagine That: Poems of never-was'' (illustrated by Kevin Hawkes''. New York: Knopf, 1998. *''Dog Days: Rhymes around the Year'' (illustrated by Dyanna Wolcott). New York: Knopf, 1999. *''The Gargoyle on the Roof: Poems'' (illustrated by Peter Sís). New York: Greenwillow Books, 1999. *''The 20th Century Children's Poetry Treasury'' (1999) (illustrated by Meilo So) *''It's Raining Pigs and Noodles: Poems'' (illustrated by James Stevenson). New York: Greenwillow Books, 2000. *''Awful Ogre's Awful Day'' (illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky). New York: Greenwillow Books, 2001. *''The Frogs Wore Red Suspenders: Rhymes'' (illustrated by Petra Mathers). New York: Greenwillow Books, 2002. *''Scranimals'' (illustrated by Peter Sís). New York: Greenwillow Books, 2002. *''If Not for the Cat: Haiku'' (illustrated by Ted Rand). New York: Greenwillow Books, 2004. *''Wild Witches' Ball'' (illustrated by Kelly Ashbury). New York: Harper, 2004. *''Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant, and other poems'' (illustrated by Carin Berger). New York: Greenwillow Books, 2006. *''I'm Glad I'm Me: Poems About You'' (2006) *''What a Day It Was at School! Poems'' (illustrated by Doug Cushman). New York: Greenwillow Books, 2006. *''Good Sports: Rhymes about running, jumping, throwing, and more'' (illustrated by Christopher Raschka). New York: Knopf, 2007. *''In Aunt Giraffe's Green Garden'' (illustrated by Petra Mathers). New York: Greenwillow Books, 2007. *''Me I Am!'' (illustrated by Christine Davenier). New York: Farrar, Straus, 2007. *''The Wizard'' (illustrated by Brandon Dorman). New York: Greenwillow Books, 2007. *''Awful Ogre Running Wild'' (illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky). New York: Greenwillow Books, 2008. *''My Dog May Be a Genius: Poems''. (illustrated by James Stevenson). New York: Greenwillow Books, 2008. *''Be Glad Your Nose Is on Your Face, and other poems''. (illustrated by Brandon Dorman). New York: Greenwillow Books, 2008. *''The Swamps of Sleethe: Poems from beyond the solar system'' (illustrated by Jimmy Pickering). New York: Knopf, 2009. *''Camille Saint-Saens's Carnival of the Animals'' (illustrated by Mary GrandPré). New York: Knopf, 2010. *''There's No Place Like School: Classroom poems'' (illustrated by Jane Manning). New York: Greenwillow Books, 2010. *''I've Lost My Hippopotamus'' (illustrated by Jackie Urbanovic). New York: Greenwillow Books, 2012. *''Stardines Swim High Across the Sky, and other poems'' (illustrated by Carin Berger). New York: Greenwillow Books, 2012. *''The Silver Moon: Lullabies and cradle songs'' (illustrated by Jui Ishida). New York: Greenwillow Books, 2013. Non-fiction *''Read a Rhyme, Write a Rhyme'' (illustrated by Meilo So). New York: Knopf, 2005. *''Pizzas, Pigs, and Poetry: How to write a poem''. New York: Greenwillow Books, 2008. Edited *''The Random House Book of Poetry for Children'' (illustrated by Arnold Lobel). New York: Random House, 1983. *Cheryl Potts, Poetry Fun by the Ton with Jack Prelutsky. Fort Atkinson, WI: Alleyside Press, 1995. *''The 20th Century Children's Poetry Treasury'' (illustrated by Meilo So). New York: Random House, 1999. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Jack Prelutsky, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Jan. 18, 2015. See also *Children's poets *List of U.S. poets References Notes External links ;Poems * Jack Prelutsky profile & 7 poems at the Academy of American Poets. * Jack Prelutsky b. 1940 at the Poetry Foundation *Jack Prelutsky at PoemHunter (10 poems) *A selection of Jack's poems ;Audio / video *Jack Prelutsky at YouTube ;About *Meet Jack *JackPrelutsky.com Official website. Category:1940 births Category:Living people Category:American children's writers Category:Children's poets Category:People from Brooklyn Category:Writers from Seattle, Washington Category:Writers from Bainbridge Island, Washington Category:Writers from New York City Category:Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School alumni Category:Hunter College alumni Category:20th-century poets Category:21st-century poets Category:English-language poets Category:Poets Category:People from New York City Category:American poets